Formerly known as Via Anticaglia, along its route stand the ruins of forty cisterns that served as the base and terracing for the road designed by the Romans that connected the Castiglione to the imperial villa of Tragara.

The name of the street, which starts from the square of the Grand Hotel Quisisana and proceeds straight to the beginning of Via Tragara, has an uncertain origin: there are numerous theories that justify this toponym.

[3] Although some hypotheses claim that this name referred to a stony path at the foot of Mount Tuoro,[3] the most widely accepted theory states that this name designates the numerous cisterns built along the route of the street in Roman times.

Suetonius narrates in his work The Twelve Caesars:[7] On one trip, as Tiberius' litter had become entangled in brambles, he knocked down and nearly clubbed to death the centurion of the first courts who was in charge of scouting the route.In the Middle Ages, the cisterns were opened on the road frontage and used as various storerooms,[2] in which beasts of burden or draught animals were placed.

[3] The camerelle were confused with the so-called "sellariae", which Suetonius cited as rooms decorated with pornographic images where the emperor spent time watching erotic games.

[8] A second theory was also formulated in the same century, which, as already mentioned, saw in those rooms closed on three sides cisterns to collect water, a commodity in Roman times highly sought after on the island, and to run pipes.

This dwelling, built on one of the Tiberian cisterns, has a U-shaped profile with a quadrangular patio between two porticoed wings; it is so called because of its features that recall a typical Roman house.

The Allies, who had come to the island to "forget the horrors of the war" and to "spend the long-awaited one-week premium leave,"[13] devoting themselves to pure enjoyment had numerous stores opened, which would sell them souvenirs or other items.

[12] In the 1950s, the island, having accentuated its frivolous and worldly characteristics, became a favored destination for mass tourism; as a result, Via Camerelle became increasingly linked to the big fashion brands, which opened numerous luxury stores there, still present today.

[14] The modern street course of Via Camerelle connects the town of central Capri, starting from the Quisisana Hotel, to the beginning of Via Tragara and Via Occhio Marino, both of which lead to the southeastern part of the island.